How long to cook a family sized cottage pie or shepherds pie from scratch?

[bibbitybobbityCAT]

From the time you get your best knife, onion and chopping board out ...

to the time you serve it up

how long would you say it takes please?

tia

I reckon about 25 mins to cook meaty bits, whilst that's cooking I do spuds and mash, cobble it all together, bake for about 20 mins in hot oven...45 mins??

Are you thinking of trying to break the World Record?

Yes 45 minutes to an hour depending on how quickly the mince and potatoes cook.

anyone got a fabby recipe for one... mine always taste of mince lol!

depends on how big is big. If I do something like that for us and 2 guests it's 45 minutes. If I'm cooking for more than 2 guests, I'll do the meat in the slow cooker all day and the just boil and mash spuds/ rootveg and then 25 minutes in oven.

I always chop and parboil carrots and mix in with the mince - that helps with the flavour.

one hour from chopping to serving if pushed for time.

I prefer to get it ready in advance and leave the mince mixture cooking for a while before assembling.

I like my topping to be an equal mix of potato and sweet potato.

That is interesting about the sweet potatoes omdb. I have a very unsweet tooth iyswim, do sweet potatoes actually taste sweet?

Shepherd pie for me goes:

Chop an onion, carrot and stick of celery (5 mins)

Saute in oil and butter for at least 15 mins til its going soft and transluscent.

Add mince and brown for 5 mins.

We're up to 25 mins now.

Stir in a table spoon of flour and cook through for a few mins. Add stock and bring up to simmer. Add seasonings. Another 5 to 7 mins at least.

Cook that lot for at least an hour.

Then at least another 20 mins in the oven once you've assembled it and put the mash on top.

So mine takes at least 2 hours. Perhaps I am cooking the meat for too long.

Anyways I always think of it as a major production number rather than a quick family meal .

bibbity yes sweet potatoes do taste a bit sweet

I like the combination of sweet and savoury though.

Parsnip and/or swede also go really nicely in mash if you want to hide veg or just vary flavour

I almost never do this in one go because i like to cook the mince for about an hour or more if I have the time so it would take me 2 hours or so too. I always cook a load of the mince and freeze it in advance and keep portions of this for later use.

So assuming I am using my pre-made and defrosted mince (which I generally am) then it takes about 45 mins (peel, cut and boil potatos and cook, and mash etc- approx 20 mins), (assemble and bake - approx 20-25 mins)

So for me it is 45 mins without cooking the mince but I only like the mince if it has been cooked a long time. I always make it bolognese sauce style though rather than gravy style ( which I'm not really keen on)

Shepherds pie is not a quick meal as far as I am concerened

I do mince all day in the slow cooker, and then just boil and mash spuds, then cook in the oven for about 15 mins.
So 30 mins? excluding slow cooker time.

The one I do takes 2 hours - half an hour of prep, 1.5 hours cooking (plus 40 mins in the oven to heat later on - I always do the first bit earlier in the day).

Cooked on a very low heat, involves lots of red wine, and is delicious.

I would say 1hr plus cooking time and 20 mins prep

My cottage pie contains

1 onion, 1leek and 1celery stick all diced and sauteed in olive oil.

Add diced cooked beef or raw mince and brown.

then add a couple of carrots diced, along with a splodge of tomato puree, some beef stock and a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce.

I usually add some chopped parsley at this stage and then simmer for about 40 minutes.

When cooked, put in a dish, plonk mashed potatoes on the top and some dots of butter before baking for 25 minutes or so in a hot oven.

i love the variations here shepherds pie is one of my quick family-favourites
my own recipe is...

i peel chop and boil the potatoes,

brown the mince (usually lamb mince cos i like it better than beef or quorn if im doing slimmers world)

chop onions, carrots, turnip, and sometimes celery and throw in to soften with mince,

add stock/gravy with extra water, cover and leave to boil down for 30 mins or so...

mash potatoes, add butter and season...

once mince/veg mix is boiled down leave to settle for 10 mins,

put mix into oven dish and add mash ontop,

add black pepper and salt over top of mash and cook in oven for 25 mins.

its very yummy

better than DH's effots last time he made one he didnt add seasoning and also crucially forgot the gravy/stock i have never had worse dry-mouth than that tea time

xx ei xx

do most people use lamb or beef mince?

lamb

I used beef mince so it was cottage pie tonight. (Lamb is shepherd's).

It took an age to cook but oh goodness it was lovely. The dc are having the leftovers tomorrow.

I think I will keep it as a long slow cook kind of dish .